Enjoying your free time is vital in today's busy world. People work long hours and the chance to enjoy some down time and relax is always welcome. For many people their relaxation of choice is to fire up their computer and indulge in a little online gambling and for more than a few, this is often accompanied by a couple of drinks.
This is nothing new, indeed part of the great attraction for punters at gambling mecca's like Las Vegas is that while they are playing at the tables or on the slots in the casinos, they are often able to receive complimentary alcoholic drinks free of charge.
Indeed, the link between gambling and alcohol stretches back further than that, perhaps to the beer-soaked, sawdust covered floors of the old west saloon bars where pioneers would gamble away their meager earnings while drinking whisky by the tumbler-full.
However, one thing is sure, even stemming back to the days of the old west, excessive amounts of beer and gambling really do not mix.
This was evident back in March this year when a Californian resident, Mark A Johnston decided to sue a newly opened Las Vegas casino over a $500,000 debt he run up while playing Pai Gow and blackjack during Superbowl weekend.
Mr Johnson, who had, by his own admission, already consumed at least 10 alcoholic drinks before he even entered the Downtown Grand Casino, claims that the casino plied him with at least 20 drinks while he was already intoxicated and has sued the casino claiming that he was the victim of an "old school hustle".
Whether you blame the casino for Mr Johnston's losses, or whether you feel Mr Johnston is solely to blame himself is a moot point here; what is indubitably clear is that playing casino games while drunk is clearly a bad idea in the real world and therefore, that makes it doubly so when playing online.
The negative effects of alcohol on your ability to gamble profitably
So how does alcohol affect you when you are gambling? The first thing to note is that while a small amount of alcohol will unlikely cause an adverse effect, people are very surprised to discover that your judgement can quickly become impaired after just a couple of drinks.
Indeed one measure of spirits, or a couple of glasses of wine is often enough to impair an individual's judgement to such an extent that the person's ability to reason quickly and make the correct call is.
This was shown by a recent study in Amsterdam where three groups of people, a control group given no alcohol, a group given a small amount of alcohol and another group given enough alcohol to make them legally drunk were tested on a computer program which involved them reacting quickly to an arrow appearing on screen.
Those with no alcohol in their blood had an error percentage of around 5%, those with small amounts of alcohol had an error rate of 19.8%, with those who were legally drunk of a similar error rate.
What this simple experiment showed was not only that a small amount of alcohol can impair your reaction time and ability to judge situations, but that you don't even realise you are making mistakes when you are under the influence.
In terms of gambling, this has somewhat worrying consequences. If you are playing a game such as blackjack or video poker which involves a relatively high degree of strategy and the ability to think clearly about what move you should make next, any significant reduction in ability to do this will more than likely result in poorer results at the table or machine.
The net result of losing more at the table means, it costs you money.
However, that is not the only way that alcohol can influence you when gambling. Even if you are playing a slot game, your ability to reason and judge what is best in any scenario can be impaired.
At first, this seems counter-intuitive given that slots are random processes that the player has no control over. However there are aspects within the game, such as deciding whether to gamble or not, when a player may feel more emboldened to take the riskier option, which of course means that they are more likely to lose money.
The other aspect to consider about gambling and alcohol is the effect alcohol has in lowering our inhibitions and making us make poor decisions which we come to regret when sobered up.
When sober, most people understand that they have a set budget for their gambling and the majority of gamblers can operate well within these limits with no issues whatsoever.
However, when even a ‘sensible' gambler has had a few drinks, their judgement can be so impaired that they can make rash financial decisions, just as Mr Johnston did in our earlier example. While most online gamblers are not likely to run up debts of $500,000 over one evening, there are gamblers who have endured financial strife due to decisions they made when they enjoyed a few beers too many.
Moderation
Like most things in life, gambling and drinking should be enjoyed in moderation if you are serious about being a profitable casino player. While a small alcoholic drink at your side is unlikely to cause you too many problems, the more you drink when indulging in a spot of online gambling, the more it will influence your judgement and impair your ability to make the right choice.
This is both in terms of what you do at the slots or tables, as well as what you do in terms of your personal finances.
And here's the rub, Mark A Johnston believes that the casino was to blame for him losing $500,000 in that drunken night and he may have a case if the casino was negligent in giving him so many drinks.
However, at home on your laptop or mobile and drinking your own beer, there's nobody else to blame for your predicament other than yourself.
So enjoy gambling online and enjoy a drink in moderation, but stay in control of both and to do that, enjoy them both independently of each other.
Next Post: Time to take a break from gambling?
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